Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1887-06-16
Eyauesceuce of Political Repu.
tatiOn.

The death Of extra Billy Smith
serves to illustrate anew the evanes-
cent character of political reputation
in the United States. Very few men
are now living whose service in either
branch of Congress dated further back
than that Of the picturesque and
eccentric Virginian whose demise has
just been chronicled. The only persons
entitled to this honor whose names
occur to us at this writing are George
W. Jones, of Iowa; Robert NJ. T.
Hunter, of Virginia; Hiram Gray,
Amasa ]. Parker, H. A. Foster and
John G.. Floyd all of New York; and
Robert c. Winthrop, of Massachusetts.
The Congressional service of Floyd
and Winthrop began in the Twenty
sixth Congress, two years before Smith s
while Jones was chosen to the Twenty
fourth, and Hunter, Gray, Parker and
Foster to the Twenty fifth. All these
men, except Smith, we believe, are
still living
When Smith entered the House Of
Representatives, in 1841, William
Henry Harrison had just died, and
John Tyler, the Vice President, became
President. Among the men in one or
other branch of Twenty-seventh Con-
gress whose names at that time or
since were known in every household
in tho United States were Willie p.
Mangum, of North Carolina, who was
President of the Senate during portion
of the Twenty-seventh Congress;
Senators w. r. King, of Alabama:
Richard H. Bayard and Thomas Clinton
of Delaware; Henry Clay and John J.
Crittenden of Kentucky; Rufus Choate,
Of Massachusetts; Robert J. Walker,
of Mississippi: Thomas H. Benton,
of Missouri; Franklin Pierce, of New
Jersey: Silas Wright, of New York:
William Allen, of Ohio; James Buchan.
an, of Pennsylvania and John e. Calhoun
of South Carolina; and Representatives
Henry S. Lane, of Indiana, Carrot
Davis and Thomas Marshall, of Ken.
lucky; William Fessenden, of Maine;
William Cost johnson of Maryland:
John Quincy Adams, Caleb Gushing
and Robert c. Winthrop, of Massa.
chusetts; w. NJ. Gwin and Jacob
Thompson, of Mississippi; Fernando
Wood, of New York; Joshua r. Giddings
of Ohio; Robert Barnwell Rhett, Of
of South Carolina; r. L. Caruthers
and Cave johnson, of Tennessee; and
John Minor Bolts, Robert NJ. T,
Hunter and Henry A. Wise Of Vir
GINA. sat
At the time when Smith first entered
our National Legislature Daniel
Webster was secretary of State in
President Tyler's Cabinet. Walter
Forward was Secretary of the treasury
John G. Spencer, Secretary Of War; A.
P. Upshur, Secretary of the Navy
Charles A. Weckliffe, Postmaster
General, and Hugh s. Legare,
Attorney General. The Department
Of the Interior was not created until
eight years later, during the Presidency
of Zachary Taylor.
How few Of the men here enumerat
ed are known by reputation to the
average citizen of to day! Clay, Clinton
Adams, Webster, Pierce and Buchanan
comprimise about all of them of which
the great mass of voters of 1887 have
any knowledge. Bayard, Clayton
Crittenden, Choate, Walker, Benton,
Wright, Fessenden, Wood, Gliding
Bates and Wise are still known in the
States they represented; but outside
these commonwealth they are virtually
forgotten, except to the few persons
living who remember those great men
in their prime, as are the politicians
and statesmen of the pre-revolution era;
while Lane, Davis, Marshall, Gwin,
Wood and Caruthers are to the great
majority Of the citizens at the present
day not even names.
How few are aware that man is to-
day holding petty Federal position in
Virginia who was chosen to Congress
while Andrew Jackson was still
President, and who was power in the
councils Of the Democracy before the
birth of the Executive who has given
him that Office. This man is Robert
NJ. T. Hunter. In all probability
scarcely 100 of the 100000 men
who will vote for President in 1888
could tell, without consulting the
cyclopedias' even the names Of the
States to which George NJ. Dallas, w.
P. Mangum and w. r. King belonged
much less tell the Office which those
lllustrious men held, or the period in
they we're in public life. And yet
Dallas and King we're Vice Presidents
of the United States and Mangum was
a candidate of his party for the Office
of President. Political reputation in
this country is exceedingly transitory.
All these men we've conspicuos figures
in the nations public life less than a
generation ago. Perhaps generation
hence none, broadly speaking, but the
student of American history will know
that such men as James G. Blaine,
George F. Edmonds, Samuel J. Randall
and John G.. Carlinle ever lived
Globe Democrat.
East and West Kansas.